Just Cutting Back on Smoking May Not Boost Lifespan

FRIDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- In recent years, researchers have suggested that smokers can boost their lifespans by cutting down instead of quitting.

But now, a new Scottish study that followed people for decades suggests that many smokers won't gain extra years by limiting -- but not eliminating -- their bad habit.

"You may be fooling yourself if you think that reducing the number of daily cigarettes will protect you from the health risk of smoking," said Dr. Steve Schroeder, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies how to convince smokers to quit.

However, the study isn't definitive, and another tobacco-use researcher said it has several potential weaknesses.

"It is not possible to know the detailed smoking history of every subject, and there's a myriad of subtle differences in consumption. There is little doubt that there is a difference in risk between one cigarette per day and 20, but it is not possible to measure all gradations in between," said Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville. "The other problem is reliability. Smokers who report fewer cigarettes might be underreporting, or they might be compensating by smoking more intensely."

Why does this kind of research matter? Because "there is an emerging trend for smokers to smoke fewer cigarettes, and some don't even smoke daily," Schroeder said.

Earlier this year, Great Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence made news by urging some smokers to cut down -- with the help of nicotine gum and other alternatives -- instead of giving up. But there's controversy because people who smoke fewer cigarettes may smoke them more intensely.

The authors of the new study say medical officials shouldn't promote cutting down unless they understand its potential benefits. Previous research has been mixed, with some studies showing that smoking fewer cigarettes didn't affect lifespan.

In the new study, researchers tracked two groups of Scottish smokers. One included 1,524 working people who were tracked from the 1970s (when they were in their 40s, 50s and 60s) to 2010. The other group included 3,730 people from the general population who were tracked for about the same period of time.